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Student successes
Congratulations to Arien Hielkema, Caroline Stephen and Hollee Fisher who have recently completed their Master of Creative Technologies degrees. All three students worked extensively with the Textile and Design Lab on their respective knitted ‘smart textile’ projects. Arien, whose work was covered in our March newsletter, has developed a smart knee brace that will be used to explore ways of movement correction for athletes recovering from injury. Caroline’s work investigated new generative ways of designing with interactive textiles whilst Hollee’s research focussed on monitoring equine physiology through the use of smart textiles. Her work is profiled in the next article.
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Smart Tack
It’s not just humans whose health is being monitored by the rapidly growing wearable technologies sector. Master of Creative Technologies student, Hollee Fisher, has developed Smart Tack, a prototype textile based system for the monitoring of equine physiology. ‘Whilst smart textiles are extending the traditional functionality of textiles and making a significant impact within the medical and healthcare industries, the field of animal care has been slow to adopt the use of smart textiles’, says Hollee. Her material investigations resulted in the construction of composite and conductive fabrics for the monitoring of equine physiology.
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Hollee’s ‘Smart Tack’ prototype monitors the horse’s heart rate
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Introducing Lara Galea and Mette Hay
The Textile and Design Lab welcomes Lara Galea, Bachelor of Creative Technologies, and Mette Hay, Bachelor of Textile Design, who have joined the lab's team to assist with the organisation and presentation of our e-Textile and Felting workshops respectively. As a second year Bachelor of Creative Technologies student, Lara works across multiple disciplines, exploring different methods and ways of thinking in her practice and is delighted at being able to share her knowledge of programming in the e-Textile workshops. Mette, a well-travelled textile artist of Danish heritage, says her artistic influences are diverse with an appreciation for clean and functional design. Her current studies are exploring the space between art and design within the realm of textiles and textile manipulation.
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Lara (left) and Mette (right) have teamed up with the TDL
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WOW success
Bachelor of Creative Technologies students Lara Galea, Katriel Worrall and Sophie McIntyre, whose Digital Skins project, ‘Darling’, was featured in last month’s newsletter, have had their entry into this year’s World of Wearable Arts Show accepted. Congratulations on this great achievement, their first ever entry.
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PhD student presents in Vietnam
Colab PhD student and TDL FeltLoom supervisor, Donna Cleveland, presented her current research at the Producing Fashion; Made in Vietnam, Fashion Colloquia earlier this month. Her presentation entitled ‘Small is the new Big’ explored an innovative localised solution to textile waste in New Zealand. It offered alternatives to disrupt current manufacturing systems where textile waste is currently sent to landfill. New Zealand has limited infrastructure in place for textile recycling, which offers a unique opportunity for the development of new ways of thinking and new models of engagement. It allows for new pathways to be explored involving sustainable systems thinking, design related research frameworks, social engagement and localised manufacturing solutions. Donna's research proposes an alternative system where the scale of intervention and style of innovation matches the scale of textile waste.
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Labs to feature in AUT Open Day
AUT’s Open Day Event, AUT Live, is being held on Saturday 27 August and prospective students are welcome to attend demonstrations at the Textile and Design Lab, 3D printing Lab and Motion Capture Lab as well as visiting the Labs Network stand in the WM Building Foyer. Full details of the Open Day event are available here.
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Felting Induction and Felt Making sessions
The Textile and Design Lab will be hosting the following Felting Sessions over the coming weeks:
1-hour AUT student induction sessions:
Tuesday 2 August 1.00 – 2.00 pm
Monday 8 August 1.00 – 2.00 pm
These short sessions will give students an introduction to the FeltLoom and some hands-on experience to prepare them for making sessions. These inductions are free of charge and materials are supplied. Email tdl@aut.ac.nz to register.
3-hour felt making session:
Thursday 4 August 9.00 am – 12 noon
These felt making sessions are open to everyone providing they have attended either an AUT student induction session or our 1 day Felting workshop – see details here. There is a charge for these sessions: $30.00 student fee; $60.00 standard fee. Materials are not supplied for these sessions. Email tdl@aut.ac.nz to register.
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Electronic Textile and Soft Circuit Design Workshop: 9-10 September
The next e-Textiles and Soft Circuit Design workshop will be held on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September from 9.00 am – 5.00 pm. This 2-day workshop is an introduction to e-textiles aimed to give participants an understanding of the basic principles of soft electronics. Read more and register here.
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Short course and workshop programme
The Textile and Design Lab’s short course and workshop programme resumes at the end of August. Subjects covered include Machine Felting, Digital Textile Design, E-Textiles and Soft Circuit Design, Knitwear Design and Textile Knowledge. Full details can be viewed here. |
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Kent State’s TechStyleLAB Announces 2017 Symposium, Call for Papers
Our colleagues at Ohio’s Kent State University are hosting a TechStyleLAB Symposium to create an opportunity for researchers, professionals and graduate students to share and present their research in a venue focused on digital fashion and textiles. The symposium hopes to start a conversation on how to move forward in these topics and bring collaboration and new innovative approaches forward. Read more
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